Unit container



w: \TNHORMES UNIT cofimxiygm Filed Aug. 20, 194% Jan. 9, 1945.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 w. T. HORMES UNIT CONTAINER Jan. 9, 1945.

Filed Aug. 20, 1942 I Patented Jan. 9, i945 I UNITED STAT ESPATENT OFFICE -UNI T CONTAINER William T. Hermes, Catonsville, Md. Application August 20, 1942, Serial No. 455,481

3 Claims.

This invention is a cabinet unit container structure with inserts, standardized and interchangeable in character, and primarily intended for use in stores and mercantile establishments generally, although not limited to such use. v

The construction is particularly designed to facilitate manufacture and marketingv of the product, as well as varying merchant users"adaptation of it for rearrangement to space or change in merchandise accommodation. retail establishments, spacesin the lines of store equipmentare used fordisplay, as distinguished from-the more general use of merchandise vstoring. Such spaces are usually free of shelves or units, are open at the front or enclosedby glass doors, and areusually electrically illuminated. The woodwork then being under illumination and -in such instances forming a background'for the merchandise being displayed, somethin better.

than the soft wood skeleton construction was necessary. Additional display units had to be installed forthepurp'ose.

With the rapid and continuous rising of wage rates, and a declining cost of plywood, due to the marked advance inde'velopments in: plywood construction, it has been found worthwhile to change from the soft wood skeleton containers, relatively costly dueto labor inimachinin'g and assembling, to azunit container of solid sheets of plywood with a face veneer of hardwood type, showing in the entireinterior of the-unit container. In this type of unit container there isno need-to insert an additionaliunit-for "display purposes. With the rather universal acceptance principle of streamlining in design, it has become general? practice to depart considerably from the olderrstraight line-and. right-angle arrangement of store' equipment and" late store arrangementsof space include considerable curving of the lines of containers. Such curving'is now commonly accomplished bypla'cing containers at an angle with: respect to. each-other, while the cornice, by

v furringout where required; follows true curvedlines. I

Although cornicesandpilasters have been detachably'connected: to the unit containers, angle;

setting thereofhas-required shaping of'pilasters to conform to the angle. Change of space-requirement, if accompanied bychange of angle, required new, specially designed pilasters'conforming to the changed angle.

(if the Stores from time to time change the type of wood and finish of pilasters and" cornice only, thus economically securing a pleasing appearance of. newness to thestore interior. With-pilasters and cornice both detachably connected, the change can be economically made 'without disturbing the body, or merchandise carrying equipment.

With these problems in View, one of the objects of the invention is to provide a unit container embodying plywood sheets, so constructed that the mere placing of :a pluralityof'unit containers in juxtaposition will provide finished joints between the containers, eliminating the requirement of pilasters of conventional or special formation, irrespective of whether the unit containers are in alignment or are disposed at an angle with respectto each other.

A further object is to provide an ornamental molding strip in association with a unit container construction, having means for providing a line like continuous contact with a similar portion of an adjacently-positioned molding strip, whereby a pilaster-like appearance is provided at thejoint between the containers, irrespective of whether they are in'true alignment or are'disposed at an angle with respect to each other, said molding strips being so positioned that a continuous cornice may be employed.

A furtherobject is to provide a unit container possessing the above mentioned characteristics which is adapted for use with either the continuous type of cornice, or the unit type of cornicegas may be desired. v I

A' further object is to have the ornamental molding strip, in addition to its function of forming a pilaster-like eliect, to overlap the space between the edge of th inner face of the container and the ends of the units inserted in thecontainer, thus locking said units within the container while the ornamentalmolding strip is in engagement with the end member of the container.

' A further object isto provide means for detachably connecting the ornamental .molding Figure 8 is a perspective view illustrative of a typical drawer unit to be placed in the cabinet.

Figure 9 is a perspective of a type of doorcarrying frame to be inserted at the forward edge of the unit container, overlapped by the ornamental molding strip.

Referring to the drawings, C designates a unit container cabinet which may be of any desired construction, but for purposes of illustration is shown as an open front cabinet. Each unit container consists of two laterally spaced end walls or members In, each of which carries a strip H secured in suitable manner to its inner face adjacent the top thereof. Only one of said strips is shown. Said strips H are joined to strips l2 carried by the rear wall I3 of the cabinet. The bottom M of the cabinet is secured to the lower portion of each end wall or member ID, and to the rear wall l3. Extending below the bottom I4 is a base member B provided with a front wall I5, and a rear wall IS. The top T rests upon the strips II and I2, as shown. The base is provided with a finishing molding I8.

The forward ends of the strips II are joined to a strip l5, commonly called a blind cornice, which is disposed between and suitably secured to the end walls 10 at a position inside of the container at the front thereof. Slotted strips 20 are shown mounted in suitable recesses in the end walls, so as to receive removable shelf-supporting lugs for shelving S, in a manner well understood in the art.

The front edge of each of the end members In is provided with a longitudinal channel 2] which extends substantially throughout the vertical length of said end wall, or at least to a position adjacent the lower edge of the blind cornice l9. Molding strips M, one for each end wall III, are provided to cover said channeled edges of the end walls. The rear edge or back of each molding strip M is provided with aligned, relatively spaced longitudinal tongue 22 complemental to the channel 2! of an end member I0, and each of said molding strips is of a width to extend beyond both side faces of each end member ID, so as to provide rearshoulders 23, 24, the shoulder 24 being somewhat wider than the shoulder 23. a l The body portion of each molding strip M at the outer edge thereof, i. e., that edge which is contiguous to the shoulder 23, is provided with a longitudinal contact portion 25 so positioned as to have surface engagement with an identical contact portion of an adjacent molding strip M carried by an end member of an adjoining unit container. Said contact portion may be of any desired cross-sectional contour. For instance, said outer edge of the molding strip M may be provided with a rearward flat bevel 26 as shown in Figure 3, or it may be provided with an arcuate convex portion 28 as shown in Figure 4. It is to be understood that these forms are shown solely for purposes of illustration and without intent to limit the invention thereto. In other words, the precise contour is immaterial as long as the outer edge of the molding strip has a rearwardly extended surface 21 along its said outer edge, less than the thickness of the strip, which will meet a similar surface of an abutting molding strip in such manner as to provide a chamfer-like longitudinal recess 28.

Embedded Within the front edge face of each end wall In is a lock plate 29 having a downwardly extending slot 3|] which is positioned to be engaged by a headed stud or screw 3| located in the space between the tongue 22: In practice, the molding strip M is engaged with its end wall If; by placing the tongue 22 in the channel 2|, at a lowered position and then moving the strip upwardly until the stud 3| engages the slotted portion of the lock plate. In this way the rear face of the molding is held in close contact with the front edge face of the end wall. The pressure of contact may be Varied by adjustment of the screw 3|. It will beobserved that the engaging and disengaging movements of the molding are at an angle to the path of movement of the insert. The lower portion of the molding strip is cut away as indicated at 32 to receive the molding 18, said cut-away portion being so proportioned that there will be a slight frictional engagement between the shoulder formed thereby and the upper edge of the molding I 8, which will be sufiicient to normally maintain the molding strip in position.

'In practice, when it is desired to place a plurality of unit containers in adjacent positions they are arranged end for end, in straight line, Or in any desired angular relationship, before the cornice 33 is placed in position. However, the

cent engaged surfaces 25 of the molding strips provide a finished appearance for the end walls H! of the adjacent units, the meeting rearwardly extended surfaces 21 producing a chamfer-like effect simulating the appearance of a pilaster connecting the units, although each molding unit is independently disconnectible from its end wall. It will be readily seen that if it becomes necessary or desirable to arrange the adjacent molding units at an angle with respect to each other instead of being in straight alignment, the contact of the portions 21 of themolding strips M may be maintained throughout the extent of a considerable range of relative angular adjustment of the two units, as determined by the contour of the said surfaces 21.

.If desired, cornices 33 may be provided in the usual and well known way, or a continuous cornice of the length desired may be removably secured in suitable manner to the blind cornices l9 of the respective unit containers of a group extended along the upper portions of the unit containers which constitute said group. Various types of merchandise insert units i. e. units which are designed to support or contain merchandise may be removably supported within the unit container C. As examples a drawer unit D is shown in Figure 8 and a door-supporting frame D is shown in Figure 9. The frame D comprises a rectangular frame mounted at the front portion of the unit container, and anchored therein -1understood, ihowever, ithat ":ithe invention-is mot L limited to these-iparticular designspf unit. Other itypesmfssuch uriitsiare described and claimed .:in 'afcopending application :filed concurrently here- :with. "In apractice,"these :units of whatever' types lthatihave been selected forusamus't be' inserted :;iS :prevented by the tongue and groove engagem'entlbetween ithe moldings andthe end walls of :the cabinet, thereby' main'taining the margin of overlap of each shoulder 24. Each molding also overlaps "the open front portion of the 'cabinet *sufiicientlyito conceal the-ends of the merchandise :carrying units. To accomplish "this result the length of 1 each insert unit is slightly less than the space-betweenzthe inner face of the end members I of the cabinet to which it is related.

After the desired units have been placed in position, the plate 29 of each molding strip M is engaged with a stud 3| carried by an end member,by an upward movement. The cornice serves as an abutment to limit such upward movement and the molding strip M then held in place by springin its lower end over and into frictional contact with molding I8. I I

The advantages of the invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which it belongs. It will be particularly observed that a very simple and inexpensive arrangement is provided for finishing the spaces between a plurality of unit containers, which are situated .closely adjacent to each other, whether they are in direct alignment, or are arranged at an angle with respect to each other. A further advantage is that the structure is so arranged that the ornamental line of juncture between adjacent containers may be provided irrespective of whether a continuous cornice is desired or not.

Another advantage of the invention lies in 'the fact that it is not uncommon in retail establishments to change the appearance from time to h 1 I tlme of t e layout and the physma eqmpment 50 faces of the end walls of the container cabinet,

It will be readily apparent that. the layout may be easily changed by shifting the unit containers as well as rearranging the enclosing merchandise units for reception of different types of merchandise. This shifting may be readily accomplished with unit containers of the type herein describedand claimed. 'In practice, both cornice and molding stripsare usually of hardwood finish -in a wide variation of shades, ranging from bleached to dark stainedfinishes' and are detachably connected to the unit containers. With the detachably connected types of cornices and molding strips herein described, it is possible at a minimum of labor and expense, to advan tageously vary the type of Wood and finishes of the cornices and pilasters of any installation of container units, so as to vary the appearance of the installation thereof in a pleasing manner. It will be noted that the containers are correctly constructed and sized to always store and display the merchandise to best advantage, so that the architectural appearance maybe readily and economically changed by substituting cornice and mold strip members of different contour andfinish. It is obvious that the relative positions of the channels 2| and -ribs 22 may be'reversed withrou't departing from the spirit of *the invention;

Having :thus explained the nature of the"-invention and :described an operative manner of in :constructing: and using the same, although without attempting to set, forth all of the forms in :whichit may be made, or all-of the forms'of its use, 'what is claimed is: l w

1. -A storefurniture construction for 'displayof m'erchandise having in combination a container cabinet, *a unit insert removably-located within .said container cabinet and having an overall width less than the spacing between the inner faces of ,the end -Walls of the container cabinet, Z whereby said-unitinsert may be removed from the container cabinet, a molding for each of the :firont edge faces-ofthe said end walls, said mold ting being of a width -to cover said end'wall'edge fface and to also overlap the-adjacent end 'ofthe .20 inserted unit insert, the rear face" of the-molding and the end --edge face of each end wall being rovid'edwith slidingly related tongue andgroove ..-engagement means, so as to maintaina predetermined uniform alignment of said overlap, the

tongue being interrupted, a locking member extending transversely of the groove in the one face, a complemental locking member located in the space where'said tongue is interrupted and provided with an engaging portion at a position to traverse said groove by relative longitudinal movement of the molding with respect to said end wall edge faceto bring the said engaging portion into engagement with the rear of the said transversely disposed locking member, said complemental member being adjustable to vary the I pressure of the engaging portion thereof with the rear of said transversely located member, said longitudinal movement being at an angle to the path of withdrawal of the tongue from the groove and the insert from'the container cabinet, wherewhereby said unit insert may be removed from the container cabinet, a molding for each of the front edge faces of the said end walls, said molding being of a width to cover said end Wall edge face and to also overlap the adjacent end of the inserted unit insert, the rear face of the molding having a longitudinally disposed tongue and the front edge face of .each end wall having a groove complemental to and slidingly engageable with said tongue, so as to maintain a predetermined uniform alignment of said overlap, the tongue being interrupted, a slotted locking member secured to said front edge face of the end wall and extending transversely of the said groove, a lock- 5 ing stud located in the space where said tongue is interrupted and provided with a head at a position to traverse said groove by relative longitudinal movement of the molding with respect to said end wall edge face to bring said head into engagement with the rear of the slotted portion of said transversely disfiosed locking member, said stud being adjustable to vary the pressure of said head with the rear of said transversely positioned locking, member, said longitu- 7o dinal movement being at an angle to the path of l withdrawal of the tongue from the groove and the insert from the container cabinet, whereby interengagement of the complemental members will lock the tongue against removal from the groove and the unit insert from the container cabinet.

3. A store furnitureconstruction for display of merchandise having in combination a container cabinet, a unit insert removably located within said container cabinet and having an overall width less than the spacing between the inner faces of the end walls of the container cabinet, whereby said unit insert may be removed from the container cabinet, a molding for each of the front edge faces of the said end walls, said molding being of a width to cover said end wall edge face and to also overlap the adjacent end of the inserted unit insert, the rear face of the molding and the end edge face of each end wall being provided with slidingly related tongue and groove engagement means, so as to maintain a predetermined uniform alignment of said overlap, the tongue being interrupted, a locking member ex-- tending transversely of the groove in the one face, a complemental locking member located in the space where said tongue is interrupted and provided with an engaging portion at a position to traverse said groove by relative longitudinal movement of the molding with'respect to said end wall edge face to bring the said engaging portion into engagement with the rear of the said transversely disposed locking member, said longitudinal movement being at an angle to the path of withdrawal of the tongue from the groove and the insert from the container cabinet, whereby interengagement of the complemental members will lock the tongue against removal from the groove and the unit insert from the container cabinet, and a fixed anchor strip carried by a portion of the container cabinet, said strip being at an angle to the path of disengaging movement of the tongue from the groove, whereby interlocking engagement of the adjacent end. of the molding with the anchor strip will lock said molding against disengagement. WILLIAM T. HORMES. 

